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Thursday, February 04, 2016

COMMENTARY: Stewart's Injury Gives Owners Cause For Concern

Stewart's timeline remains unclear

Tony Stewart suffered a burst
fracture of his first lumbar vertebra Sunday
while driving an off-road sand buggy in the California desert. He was
transported to a local hospital and evaluated; awake and alert throughout the
process and able to move all of his extremities. The former Sprint Cup Series
champion flew to North Carolina Tuesday evening and was admitted to a
Charlotte-area hospital, where he underwent surgery.

Stewart will now
miss the start of the Sprint Cup Series season in two weeks at Daytona
International Speedway. A timetable for his return has not been determined, but
his Stewart Haas Racing team says he is expected to return to competition in
2016.

Stewart’s injury has once again focused the
spotlight on NASCAR’s contractual policies, and what drivers are (and are not)
allowed to do in their free time.

The
National Football League’s uniform player contract prohibits players from “any
activity other than football which may involve a significant risk of personal
injury.” Unfortunately, the word “significant” is open to significant debate
and interpretation. One man’s hobby – say, wheeling a fire-breathing 410-cubic
inch Sprint Car around a high-banked dirt track – is another man’s insanity.
And what one team owner considers perfectly reasonable, another might forbid
outright.

"Smoke" has been hurt before

Despite the use of standardized base contracts, NBA and
NFL team owners can also add more specific language to individual agreements,
as needed. Dallas Cowboys wide receiver Dez Bryant is infamous for his rambunctious
personal life, and in the aftermath of repeated incidents of boorish behavior,
the Cowboys mandated a strict “no-alcohol, no-strip club” policy in his 2012
contract, along with a midnight curfew. Those clauses reportedly remain in effect,
to this day.

Major
League Baseball teams are more specific in their guidelines. The New York
Yankees once banned log-rolling in their standard player contracts, while the
Washington Nationals routinely forbid players from piloting airplanes.

In
December of 1967, Boston Red Sox pitcher Jim Lonborg inadvertently added new
verbiage to his teammates’ contracts when he tore ligaments in his left knee
while skiing, just weeks after winning the American League Cy Young Award and
finishing sixth in Most Valuable Player balloting. Lonborg was plagued by
injury for the remainder of his career, winning only 27 games from 1968 to
1971.

In
the 1990s, Baltimore Orioles shortstop Cal Ripken negotiated a clause in his
contract allowing him to play pick-up basketball during the offseason; an
activity in which other players were expressly prohibited from taking part in.
Ripken, who built a basketball court in his home, called basketball an
important part of his off-season conditioning program. For their part, the
Orioles had a difficult time convincing anyone that Ripken -- the all-time
record holder in consecutive games played -- comprised a significant risk of injury.

Compared
to the so-called “stick and ball” sports, less is known about driver contracts
in NASCAR. In our sport, drivers and teams function as independent contractors,
with no commissioner or players’ union to negotiate on their behalf. As a
result, drivers and teams are under no obligation to publicize the specifics of
their respective deals.

A new,
charter-based ownership model – if it occurs – will not alter that dynamic. Neither
the Race Team Alliance nor the newly formed NASCAR Drivers’ Council function as
unions, per se. Neither is authorized to negotiate contracts on behalf of its
members, meaning that agreements between drivers and teams will remain private
for the foreseeable future.

It
is believed, however, that most NASCAR teams already include some sort of language
in driver contracts, restricting hazardous off-track activity. We don’t see it,
because the contracts are private. But like a ship passing in the night, it’s
there.

One
NASCAR national series driver, speaking on the condition of anonymity, recalled
being forbidden to race anything not owned by his respective team owner.
Unhappy, with that restriction, the driver requested that specific language be
placed in his ensuing contracts, outlining exactly what was – and was not –
allowed.

In
most circumstances, a driver injured while taking part in an unapproved, off-track
activity will also not be paid until he/she is healed, healthy and able to
return. That, along with a high degree of responsibility to sponsors, keeps
most NASCAR drivers on the straight and narrow, most of the time.

Clearly,
however, accidents do still happen. And with hundreds of millions of dollars
invested in a specific athlete, sponsors are not anxious to have their driver
sidelined for any length of time.

Frisbee. No kidding.

In
the aftermath of Sunday’s incident, Stewart will now miss at least a portion of the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series schedule for the third
time in the last four seasons. In August of 2013, the Indiana native lost
significant time after suffering a compound fracture of his right leg in a
Sprint Car crash at an Iowa dirt track. One year later, Stewart’s Sprint Car struck
and killed driver Kevin Ward, Jr., on an upstate New York dirt oval. The former
series champion sat out a number of races following that incident, as well, and
has struggled to return to competitive form since.

While
Stewart’s sponsors have been overwhelmingly supportive through his hard times,
make no mistake about it. They do not relish the possibility of beginning the
2016 campaign with “Smoke” on the sidelines.

Sponsors
wield a great deal of clout in NASCAR, and Stewart is a perfect example of
their influence. The Stewart Haas Racing driver has not strapped into a winged
Sprint Car since Aug. 9, 2014, the night of Ward’s death. The psychological
trauma associated with that incident certainly played a role in his decision to
withdraw, for a time. But near the end of last season, as Stewart announced his
impending retirement from NASCAR, he immediately declared his intention to “do
a whole lot of Sprint Car racing” once again in 2017.

Stewart’s
hiatus from Sprint Cars clearly has been at the request of his sponsors, as
evidenced by his anxiousness to return immediately to the dirt tracks, once his
NASCAR career is over. Freed from his multi-million dollar sponsor and team
obligations, Stewart will soon get back to doing what he wants to do,
instead of what he has to do.

Stewart
is not the only NASCAR driver to be sidelined by off-track injury. Denny Hamlin
has undergone two reconstructive knees surgeries in recent seasons; the result
of his penchant for pickup basketball. Carl Edwards suffered a broken right
foot while playing frisbee in late 2009, while multi-time series champion
Jimmie Johnson broke his arm falling off a golf cart in 2010.

While
golf and frisbee are unlikely to be added to the list of dangerous activities
banned by NASCAR team owners, it will be interesting to see whether Stewart’s
latest off-track incident affects the way NASCAR does business, going forward.

2 comments:

I took a walk around the worldTo ease my troubled mindI left my body lying somewhereIn the sands of timeBut I watched the world floatTo the dark side of the moon

I feel there is nothing I can do, yeah

I watched the world floatTo the dark side of the moonAfter all I knew it had to beSomething to do with youI really don’t mind what happens now and thenAs long as you’ll be my friend at the end

If I go crazy then will you stillCall me SupermanIf I’m alive and well, will you beThere a-holding my handI’ll keep you by my sideWith my superhuman mightKryptonite

Three Doors Down

Tony, as with so many mid-life athletes, still think they are indestructible. Caution is thrown to the wind in the name of fun and competition. Maybe one driver in NASCAR will learn a lesson from this and not go that extra mile to prove their manhood.